Welcome

It was brought to my attention that I tend to go birdwatching alot. So here is my attempt to document my outings and sightings. I also hope to show photos of as many of my ticks as possible.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

SW WA Trip Part 3: The last leg

We left Cheynes Beach on a high, and with 15 ticks already under our belt we felt confident that our desired 20 was very achievable. We made our way north west through the back roads heading towards the Porongurup NP. On the way we saw heaps of Western Rosella and Red-capped Parrot, and came across a flock of Red-tailed Black-cockatoo.The carpark in the national park turned out to be a great spot with two ticks easily seen, Purple-crowned Lorikeet and Western Yellow Robin. The Lorikeets stuck high to the tree tops and were hard to see properly but the Robin was very tame and allowed close approach. Also in the area were Tawny-crowned Honeyeater (weird habitat to see them in), Western Rosella, Red-winged Fairy-wren, White-breasted Robin and Red-eared Firetail. We also spent some time photographing the western race of the common Australian Magpie.We then pushed on north through the dry farmlands that dominate this region. We had the best chicken burgers ever in Kojonup (no birds) and did several laps of Narrogin before finding the road to Dryandra. This conservation area is litterally an oasis in a cleared desert. With various eucalypt communities present it is home to a wide range of birds and a few well known marsupials like the Numbat. It is well worth a visit.On arrival we went straight out to the Old Mill Dam site and had a ball. Yellow-plumed Honeyeaters were pretty common and it didn't take long to tick off one of the many Rufous Treecreepers in the open woodland. Western Yellow and Red-capped Robins were seen and we eventually tracked down some Blue-breasted Fairy-wrens in the thicker scrub. We heard Regent Parrots but didn't see them...another dip.As we walked out into the edge habitat we found a great little flock of birds comprising of Inland and Yellow-rumped Thornbill, Weebill, Blue-breasted Fairy-wren, Golden Whistler, Grey Shrike-thrush and several Western Thornbills, our 20th tick for the trip! We got excellent views and they proved easy to identify. As we watched the flock, five Elegant Parrots flew in and perched in the eucalypts above us. What an afternoon, three ticks in the one spot.This was our last real birding for the trip. We saw a Bush Stone-curlew that night in front of our cabin and more Twenty-eight Parrot, Red-tailed Black-cockatoo and Rufous Treecreepers the next day on our way to the airport for our flight home.All up we saw 20 ticks, 35 year ticks and 118 species.I can strongly recommend the south west corner too any keen birder/photographer.